Method of and apparatus for preparing windows and the like for spray painting

ABSTRACT

In preparing standard house window trim for spray painting, strips of adhesive-coated masking paper are formed by the use of a miter cut attachment on a supply roll of masking paper. Swallowtail cuts are produced in one end of each strip. Two overlapping strips are utilized on each of the four sides of a window to completely cover and protect the storm sash channel structure. Additional masking material may be applied to the surrounding house siding and to the glass of the main window sashes.

United States Patent [191 Ec kart, Jr.

[ July 3, 1973 [54] METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR 7 3,510,033 5/1970 Schramm et a1 225/90 X PREPARING WINDOWS AND THE-LIKE 433.496 8/1890 Stouder 83/700 X FOR SPRAY PAINTING Albert Edmund Eckart, Jr., Westport, Conn.

Assignee: Sapolin Paints, lnc., New York, NY.

Filed: Dec. 10, 1971 Appl. No.: 206,722

Inventor:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1914 Krue 225/67 X Primary Examiner-Andrew R. Juhasz Assistant Examiner-Leon Gilden Attorney-Marvin Reich [5 7 ABSTRACT In preparing standard house window trim for spray painting, strips of adhesive-coated masking paper are formed by the use of a miter cut attachment on a supply roll of masking paper. Swallowtail cuts are produced in one end of each strip. Two overlapping strips are utilized on each of the four sides of a window to completely cover and protect the storm sash channel structure. Additional masking material may be applied to the surrounding house siding and to the glass of the main window sashes.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENIEDJUL 3 I973 SHEEI 1 [IF 2 R m N E V W EDMUND A. ECKART,JR

A'FTOkNEY METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING WINDOWS AND THE LIKE FOR SPRAY PAINTING There is a great need for a systematized procedure for preparing the trim of house windows for spray painting. Brush painting of trim as commonly practiced is time-consuming and costly and the final appearance of the work is frequently imperfect. Heretofore, the masking of window panes and adjacent areas of the house has been haphazard and without any established system, with the result that the masking is frequently imperfect and is so time-consuming and tedious that much of the benefit of spray painting is lost. For this reason, it has not been customary to even attempt to spray paint window trim on houses.

Accordingly, the principal object of this invention is to provide a method of preparing window trim for spray painting which is expeditious and efficient and uncomplicated. The method, materials and the apparatus utilized in the practice of the method is sufficiently simple that house painters will not be discouraged from using it with the result that the spray painting of window trim is rendered entirely practical and more economical than brush painting. The resulting appearance of the finished work is far superior to brush painting.

The invention embodies a unique miter cut attachment to a masking paper roll dispenser which produces a swallowtail cut or notch in one end of each masking paper strip. The position of the cut may be adjusted laterally of the strip as may be found necessary to accommodate certain window frame configurations. The use of multiple masking strips of this type on a window render it quite simple to completely cover the projecting storm sash frame structure so that paint will not enter the channels of this structure. The swallowtail cuts produce perfect miter lines at the four corners of each window. The glass panes of the window are masked separately with readily removable sheets and the house siding surrounding each window normally prepainted is masked with a convenient number of the same strips employed to cover the storm sash channels.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES FIG. I is a perspective view of a masking strip cutter attachment and associated elements.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the attachment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a typical paper masking strip produced by the cutter attachment and employed with other identical strips in masking a window for spray painting.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a house window illustrating the method of preparing the window for spray painting with the masking strips, as shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a window pane masking element employed in the method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals designate like parts, attention is directed initially to FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrating a masking paper supply roll holder 10 adated to be clamped as at 11 to a member 12 of a scaffold or the like. The holder 10 supports a shaft 13 of a preferably 6 inch wide masking paper supply roll 14, a section of such masking paper being shown at 15 in FIG. 3 after being cut off by the attachment which forms an important element of this invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the masking paper has pressure-sensitive adhesive-coated areas 16 along both of its longitudinal edges.

The cutting attachment for producing each strip 15 comprises a transversely curved mounting plate 17 attached by a pair of screws 18 to the usual paper cutting blade 19 which extends across the front of the roll 14 and is carried by a yoke structure 20 at the ends of the roll. Attached to the mounting plate 17 is a generally triangular miter cutting blade 21 having a leading por tion 22 which is arcuate to conform somewhat to the periphery of the roll 14. The leading apex or point 23 of the blade 21 is approximately right angular and is at the lateral center of the blade 21. The rear transverse edge 24 of blade 21 extends slightly beyond the opposite sides of the paper roll 14, as shown, whereby the two diagonal paper cutting edges 25 span the entire width of the roll.

The blade 21 is yieldingly and adjustably secured to the mounting plate 17 in the following manner. The blade has an elongated transverse slot 26 close to and parallel with its rear edge 24. This slot receives bolts 27 which also engage through openings 28 in mounting plate 17. On the forward side of the blade 21, the bolts 27 extend through pairs of washers 29 and intervening compressible coil springs 30, and the forward ends of the bolts receive wing nuts 31 by means of which the tension of the springs 30 may be readily adjusted. By this means, the blade 21 is held yieldingly against the plate 17 and may be adjusted laterally in either direction relative to the roll 14 so as to position the cutting apex 23 for an off-center swallowtail cut in the masking paper strip 15. The rear edge of the plate 17 is used for making straight transverse cuts across the paper by rotating the bar 19 upwards on its axis towards the top of holder 10, thus giving the attachment a dual function.

In FIG. 3, the strip 15 is shown with a centered swallowtail cut or notch 32 in its trailing end produced by the blade 21 when the latter is centered with respect to the roll 14, as shown in FIG. 1. By shifting the blade toward either side of the roll 14 through the use of the slot 26 and associated yielding connecting elements, the swallowtail cut 32 may be offset any desired distance away from center and toward either longitudinal edge of the strip 15. The forward end of each strip 15 carries a centered or offset tapered extension 33 produced by the formation of the cut 32 in the immediately preceding strip I5 produced by the cutter attachment.

Referring to FIGS. 3 through 6, a method of preparing a standard house window 34 for spray painting is disclosed. It is assumed that the surrounding house siding 35 is prepainted in any desired color and the painting of window trim is now ready to be preformed in accordance with the method of protecting or masking. The siding areas immediately surrounding the window 34 are covered with the minimum convenient number of the strips 15 placed in overlapping relationship around the four sides of the window up to the marginal edge of the exterior window frame 36, which remains exposed for spray painting along with the outside window sill 37. For convenience of illustration, the surrounding masking strips 15 are indicated in broken lines around the window 34 in FIG. 4.

Next, the glass panes 38 of the main window sashes 39 are completely masked or covered with precut masking sheets 40, FIG. 6, preferably formed of heavy paper or cardboard. Each masking sheet 40 is preferably mounted for easy removal on a window pane by producing a pair of small openings 41 in the sheet, covered on the outer side of the sheet by strips 42 of pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. By this means, each masking sheet 40 may be adhesively attached to each pane 38 at two spots only for easy removal after spray paintmg.

Following this preparation of the surrounding house siding and glass window panes, additional strips 15 of masking paper are now employed in the following manner to completely enclose the projecting storm window frame and channel structure 43, FIG. 5, which projects forwardly of the trim frame 36 and must be protected from paint to promote the proper sliding of the storm sash, not shown.

A pair of the strips 15 are now employed in longitudinally overlapped relation on each of the four sides of the window, FIG. 4, the tapered ends 33 of these strips being overlapped approximately at the center of each side of the window, as shown. The swallowtail cuts 32 of each strip 15 are arranged outermost or endmost with respect to each window frame side so that perfect masking miter joints may be produced by folding the strips 15 around thechannel structure 43 at each of the four corners of the storm window frame. This is illustrated in FIG. 4. FIG. shows in cross section how each masking strip is folded along its entire length around the projecting frame 43 so as to completely cover the two inside channels 44 as well as all exterior exposed surfaces of the frame 43 on all four sides of the window. FIG. 4 illustrates that the left hand side of the frame 43 is completely masked by a pair of the folded strips 15 and also the bottom side of the frame is completely masked. However, in FIG. 4, for the purpose of illustration, the strips 15 at the top of the window 34 and along the upper right hand side thereof have not yet been folded over and around the interior sides of the storm window projecting frame 43. This is shown in solid and broken lines in FIG. 4 to illustrate several of the partially applied strips 15, which after full application will be positioned on the frame 43 as shown at the left side and bottom side of FIG. 4 and in FIG. 5. Again, the interfitting and folded swallowtail cuts 32 will produce full masking and neat miter joints at the four corners of the frame 43.

With the above masking steps completed, any painter with spray equipment may now spray the exposed trim of the window without fear of painting the glass, the surrounding house siding or the channel frame 43. When the spray painting is completed, the masking strips may be easily stripped away and the sheets 40 are readily removable since they are only spot-tacked to the glass panes.

It should now be apparent to any person skilled in the art that the above apparatus andmethod greatly simplifies and expedites and renders uniform the procedure for spray painting house windows. Accordingly, the entire operation is rendered feasible and practical as has not always been the case where haphazard masking techniques are utilized.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for producing cut strips of masking sheet material for use in preparing windows for spray painting, said apparatus comprising a holder for a supply roll of adhesive-coated masking material, and a cutting attachment on said holder associated with said supply roll and including a mounting plate adapted to be attached to a part of said holder, a substantially triangular cutting blade having a leading apex and rearwardly divergent cutting edges, said cutting edges collectively spanning the entire width of said supply roll, said cutting blade having an elongated transverse slot, and yielding connecting means engaging said slot and anchored to said mounting plate, whereby said apex of the cutting blade may be shifted laterally of the supply roll and will be frictionally held in selected adjusted positions, said cutting blade adapted to produce a swallowtail cut in each strip of sheet material drawn from the supply roll and severed therefrom by said cutting blade.

2. The structure of claim 1, and said yielding connecting means comprising a pair of bolts secured to the mounting plate and projecting slidably through said slot of the cutting balde, compression spring means on the bolts yieldingly urging the cutting blade against the mounting plate, and nuts carried by the bolts to adjust the tension of said spring means.

3. The structure of claim 2, and said mounting plate and cutting blade each having an arcuate formation in a direction generally following the peripheral surface of the supply roll.

4. The structure of claim 1, and said cutting blade having an approximately right angular leading apex and being symmetrically formed 'on opposite sides of the leading apex, whereby symmetrical swallowtail cuts may be produced in each strip of masking material.

5. The structure of claim I, and said mounting plate attached fixedly to a transverse web cutting blade on said holder spanning said supply roll. 

1. An apparatus for producing cut strips of masking sheet material for use in preparing windows for spray painting, said apparatus comprising a holder for a supply roll of adhesivecoated masking material, and a cutting attachment on said holder associated with said supply roll and including a mounting plate adapted to be attached to a part of said holder, a substantially triangular cutting blade having a leading apex and rearwardly divergent cutting edges, said cutting edges collectively spanning the entire width of said supply roll, said cutting blade having an elongated transverse slot, and yielding connecting means engaging said slot and anchored to said mounting plate, whereby said apex of the cutting blade may be shifted laterally of the supply roll and will be frictionally held in selected adjusted positions, said cutting blade adapted to produce a swallowtail cut in each strip of sheet material drawn from the supply roll and severed therefrom by said cutting blade.
 2. The structure of claim 1, and said yielding connecting means comprising a pair of bolts secured to the mounting plate and projecting slidably through said slot of the cutting blade, compression spring means on the bolts yieldingly urging the cutting blade against the mounting plate, and nuts carried by the bolts to adjust the tension of said spring means.
 3. The structure of claim 2, and said mounting plate and cutting blade each having an arcuate formation in a direction generally following the peripheral surface of the supply roll.
 4. The structure of claim 1, and said cutting blade having an approximately right angular leading apex and being symmetrically formed on opposite sides of the leading apex, whereby symmetrical swallowtail cuts may be produced in each strip of masking material.
 5. The structure of claim 1, and said mounting plate attached fixedly to a transverse web cutting blade on said holder spanning said supply roll. 